BX 1 




Class _s':^a45 

Book_*H_^'a 

Copyright}!". 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



A COMPANION 

TO THE 

53ta?er 3Soofe 

A LITURGICAL AND SPIRITUAL EXPOSITION OF 
THE SERVICES FOR THE HOLY COMMUNION 
MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER 
AND THE LITANY 

BY ^ 

The Right Rev. A. C. A. HALL, D.D. 

BISHOP OF VERMONT 



NEW YORK 
E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO. 

7 AND 9 West Eighteenth Street 



THE LIBRARY ®F 
Two Oon» ftECEfves 

FEB. 19 ■ 1902 

Of>f^jzn(>HT ENTRY 

7. S ^ iJ- lJ- 
COPY 3. 



Copyright, 1902, by 
E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO. 



It will be well to make plain the purpose of 
this little book. There are many excellent 
^, works on the Prayer Book, dealing with its 
origin and history, its structure and contents. 
Among these, of later date than Wheatley's 
Rational Illustration,'^ may be mentioned 
Blunt's Annotated Book of Common Pray- 
er,'' Bishop Barry's ''The Teacher's Prayer 
Book " (both of which have an American 
edition), the "Prayer Book Interleaved," Mr. 
Pullan's " History of the Book of Common 
Prayer '' in the Oxford Library of Practical 
Theology, and — latest and fullest of all — the 
new edition of Procter on the Prayer Book, 
largely re-written, by the Rev. W. H. Frere. 
But these works are for the most part intended 
for students, and are theological or historical 
rather than spiritual."^ 

On the other hand, great advance has been 
made in liturgical studies since Bishop Coxe 
wrote his Thoughts on the Services," which 

* Besides the books above referred to, a great 
deal of most interesting information and criticism 
will be found in The Workmanship of the Prayer 
Book in its Literary and Liturgical Aspects, by the 
Bishop of Edinburgh (Dr. Dowden). 



4 



Preface 



have proved of the greatest help to a large 
number of people. 

The author's object has been, while availing 
himself of the historical research of scholars, 
to give a simple exposition of the Prayer Book 
services as they are; that our people, seeing 
the meaning of the different parts and of their 
relation one to another, may be able to join m 
the worship at once with more intelligence and 
with more devotion. 

The book being intended primarily for lay 
people, and to aid their devotion, rubrical 
questions are not dealt with. These directions 
of the Prayer Book have been considered more 
particularly for the clergy in the author s 
" Notes on the use of the Prayer Book. 

The author has not scrupled to refer to other 
publications of his own for the fuller and sep- 
arate treatment of subjects, like the Creed, the 
Lord's Prayer, and the Collects, which here 
can only claim a place among others. 

To two friends, who kindly listened to the 
reading of the manuscript and gave several 
helpful suggestions, the author gladly ac- 
knowledges his special obligations— the Bishop 
of New Hampshire (Dr. Niles), and Professor 
Body of the General Theological Seminary. 

This little book deals only with the services 
in constant use. It is hoped that a second part 
may be published giving a similar exposition 
of the occasional offices. 
Burlington, Vermont, January i, 1902. 



Contents, 



Holy Communion : pagb 
The Introductory Prayers . . . • . . 7 

The Commandments 9 

The Collects 10 

The Epistle and Gospel ,13 

The Creed 15 

The Sermon 18 

The Offertory 19 

The Intercessions 21 

The Preparation of the Communicants . . .23 

The Comfortable Words 28 

The Sursum Corda 31 

The Prayer of Humble Access . . . .34 
The Prayer of Consecration . - . . '34 

The Reception 39 

The Lord's Prayer 42 

The Thanksgiving after Communion . . .43 

The Gloria in Excelsis 44 

The Blessing 45 

Morning and Evening Prayer : 

The Introductory Prayers 47 

The Psalter • ... 49 

The Lessons . 51 

The Canticles 54 

I. Te Deum 54 

II. Benedicite 58 

III. Benedictus 58 

IV. Magnificat 60 

V. Nunc dimittis 61 

The Creed 63 

The Versicles and Responses 65 

The Collects 66 

The Intercessions 68 

The General Thanksgiving 68 

The Prayer of St. Chrysostom 69 

The Grace 70 

The Litany 72 



Index 77 



THE INTRODUCTORY PRAYERS. 

The Lord's Prayer and introductory col- 
lect were formerly a part of the priest's private 
preparation. This accounts for the custom 
(general in England, and commonly followed 
in America) of the Lord's Prayer in this place 
being repeated aloud by the priest alone. 

It will be observed that the Lord's Prayer 
is said here, at the beginning of the service, 
without the familiar doxology, For thine is 
the kingdom," etc., which is added in the 
Thanksgiving after Communion. The words 
almost certainly did not belong to the prayer 
as given by our Lord. They are not found at 
all in St. Luke's account of its delivery (xi. 4), 
and are of very doubtful authority in St. 
Matthew's (vi. 13). They were in very early 
times added to the prayer, being a doxology 
in common use in the Christian Church at the 
end of prayers, which came to be attached to 
the Lord's Prayer in some of the manuscripts. 
(See Gore's Practical Exposition of the Ser- 
mon on the Mount," pp. 129, 130.) 

7 



8 



Holy Communion 



The introductory collect, often but not hap- 
pily styled the collect for purity, stands for an 
important spiritual truth which is too com- 
monly lost sight of, that we need and should 
seek the aid of the Holy Ghost to enable us to 
draw near to God acceptably and worthily. 

The Spirit helpeth our infirmity : for we 
know not how to pray as we ought; but the 
Spirit himself maketh intercession for us 
(Rom. viii. 26) ; not as we think of our Lord 
pleading for us at the throne of God, but 
within us suggesting holy desires, steadying 
our attention, enabling us to lift up our hearts 
to God. Thus praying in the Holy Spirit " 
(St. Jude 20), we can join with our Lord 
Jesus Christ as living members of His body, 
taught and led by His Spirit, in this solemn 
approach to God. According to the old Eng- 
lish use the Veni Creator Spiritus, Come, 
Holy Ghost, Creator Blest'' (Hymnal 380 or 
289), was said by the priest while vesting, with 
this intention of invoking the help of the Holy 
Spirit in celebrating the sacred mysteries. 

We should note what may be called the 
positive purity of heart for which the collect 
asks — not a mere absence of evil thoughts or 
desires, but " cleanse ... by the inspira- 
tion," or inbreathing " of thy Holy Spirit " of 
truth and purity and love. So we hope per- 
fectly to love " God, and worthily to magnify 
His holy name in this great act of worship. 



The Commandments 9 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 

The rehearsal of the Law, either in the form 
of the Ten Commandments deHvered through 
Moses or in our Lord's summary of them, is a 
peculiarity of the English liturgy and those de- 
rived therefrom. Our American service in- 
herits the summary from the liturgy of the 
Scottish Church. In some ancient eucharistic 
services there was a variable reading from the 
Old Testament, the Law or the Prophets, cor- 
responding to the Epistle and Gospel, with 
which our rehearsal of the Decalogue has 
sometimes been compared. Of old there was, 
too, very generally at the beginning of the ser- 
vice a repetition of the Kyrie eleison (Lord 
have mercy upon us, Christ have mercy upon 
us. Lord have mercy upon us), each petition 
being repeated three times. This very likely 
suggested the response to each of the Ten 
Commandments, in which the people ask God 
mercy for their transgression thereof for the 
time past, and grace to keep the same for the 
time to come.'' The petitions added to the old- 
er Lord have mercy upon us " incline our 
hearts to keep this law," and write all these 
thy laws in our hearts, we beseech thee ") are 
founded on the prophetic promises of grace in 
the new dispensation. Jer. xxxi. 31-34- 
Compare Heb. viii. 7, etc.; x. 16, 17. 

In approaching the holy mysteries the Com- 



lO 



Holy Communion 



mandments stand as a sort of moral test or 
guard, as the Creed witnesses to the necessity 
of a right faith. The explanation of the Com- 
mandments in the Catechism under the Duty 
toward God and the Duty toward our Neigh- 
bour might well be frequently used as a basis 
for self-examination in preparation for Holy 
Communion. A fuller and very helpful ex- 
planation of the Commandments for the pur- 
pose of self-examination is given as an appen- 
dix to Gore's " Exposition of the Sermon on 
the Mount/' 

THE COLLECTS. 

The collects, or short prayers for each Sun- 
day and Holy-day, are a glory of the Western 
Church, unknown in the Eastern liturgies. 
Ours are for the most part translated from the 
Latin, being found in Sacramentaries, or col- 
lections of prayers for use at the Sacrament of 
our Lord's Body and Blood, attributed to Popes 
Leo (a.d. 430), Gelasius (494), and Gregory 
(590). These Sacramentaries themselves be- 
long to a later date than the great bishops 
whose names they bear, probably respect- 
ively to the middle of the sixth, the begin- 
ning of the eighth, and the end of the eighth 
centuries; but the books were rather compi- 
lations than compositions, and many of the 
prayers contained in them are of older origin 



The Collects 



II 



and use.* Most of our weekly collects are now 
appointed for the same Sundays on which they 
have been used for successive centuries. Thus 
we are linked with God's servants throughout 
the ages, as well as throughout the world, in 
repeating the words in which they have been 
accustomed through successive generations to 
express their highest aspirations and deepest 
supplications. This link of spiritual associa- 
tion, along with the terseness whereby they 
say so much in saying so little," f may be 
reckoned among the chief excellences of the 
collects. 

The collects are so called because they were 
originally the collecting and gathering to- 
gether of the private silent prayers of the con- 
gregation. The officiant propounded certain 
subjects for prayer in the form of a bidding; 
then, after an interval for silent prayer, the 
officiant said the collect to sum up in one short 
form the private prayers of the people, and 
they responded Amen. J 

It will be observed that the collects are near- 
ly all framed on the same model of three-fold 
structure: (i) The Invocation, in which some 
attribute of Almighty God is generally men- 

* Frere's Procter, p. 469, and Wordsworth's 
Ministry of Grace, pp. 73-75. 

t Ancient Collects, by William Bright. Appen- 
dix, On the Collects in the Prayer Book, p. 199. 

% Frere, p. 523. 



12 



Holy Communion 



tioned as a ground for the presentation of our 
petition ; (2) the Petition, great thoughts and 
desires being gathered up in a few simple 
words; (3) the Pleading of our Lord's merits, 
often accompanied by a doxology. 

The collects for the Saints' days are mostly 
of English composition, the older Latin col- 
lects frequently containing a petition for the 
aid of the prayers of the saint commemorated, 
and generally being meagre in comparison 
with those for the Sundays or the festivals of 
our Lord. 

For those who would learn more of the spir- 
itual treasures enshrined in the collects, and 
try to make the law of prayer the law at once 
of faith and of life, reference may be made to 
the late Dr. Goulburn's Readings on the Col- 
lects," and to the present author's " Notes for 
Meditation on the Collects for the Sundays and 
Holy-days of the Christian Year." 

THE EPISTLE AND GOSPEL. 

The reading of the Scriptures has naturally 
always formed a prominent feature in the 
public assemblies of Christians for worship. 
Justin Martyr in his Defence of the Chris- 
tians (a.d. 140), when describing their Sunday 
worship, says : On the day called Sunday all 
who live in cities or in the country gather to- 
gether to one place, and the memoirs of the 



The Epistle and Gospel 13 



apostles or the writings of the prophets are 
read, as long as time permits ; then, when the 
reader has ceased, the president verbally in- 
structs and exhorts to the imitation of these 
good things. Then we all together stand and 
pray ; and, as we before said, when our prayer 
is ended, bread is brought and wine and water, 
and the president ofifers both prayers and 
thanksgivings, according to his ability, and 
the people assent, saying Amen; and there is 
a distribution to each and a reception of what 
has been blessed^ and to those who are absent 
a portion is sent by the deacons ; and they who 
are well-to-do, and willing, give what each 
thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited 
with the president, who succours the orphans 
and widows, and those who through sickness 
or any other cause are in want."* 

The arrangement of fixed lessons from the 
letters of the apostles and from the Gospel 
record of our Lord's life and words is very 
ancient ; our present selection of Epistles and 
Gospels may be traced as far back, with varia- 
tions of course, as the end of the fifth century, 
if not to a still earlier date. The Epistle and 
Gospel give the Church's special Scripture 
teaching for each Sunday and Holy-day, which 
may profitably be studied devotionally in 
preparation for Holy Communion. Some 
central thought, linking together, or common 
* Apology, I. 67. 



14 



Holy Communion 



to, both the Epistle and the Gospel, is often to 
be found in the collect, which thus suggests 
guidance for our meditation. As we draw 
near to our Lord in the Sacrament of His Body 
and Blood, we may well meditate on the ex- 
ample of His earthly life brought before us in 
the special Gospel for the day — His humility, 
obedience, prayerfulness, loving sympathy, or 
self-sacrifice; or upon the way in which He 
dealt with those who came before Him in their 
needs and sorrows during His earthly minis- 
try, as a pledge of His readiness to receive and 
help all who now draw near to Him in faith 
and prayer, begging His mercy for themselves 
or others. He is the same yesterday, to-day, 
and forever — the Son of Man and the Son of 
God. What Jesus was, God is ; what Jesus 
was, man should be.'' 

At the announcement of the Gospel all stand 
in honour of our Lord, whose words are re- 
hearsed, or some act or event of His earthly 
life narrated. We stand, as it were, to wel- 
come Him, and as ready to obey His word. 
The special honour in which the Gospel is held 
is marked likewise by the doxology repeated 
at its announcement, " Glory be to thee, O 
Lord." 



TJie Creed 



15 



THE CREED. 

The recital of the Creed may be regarded 
as a sort of response on the part of the con- 
gregation to the teaching which has just been 
given in the scriptural lessons. " He that 
Cometh to God must believe that He is [in His 
existence], and [concerning His character] 
that He is a rewarder of them that seek after 
Him." (Heb. xi. 6.) Accordingly the com- 
mon profession of our faith in God, as He 
is made known to us by our Lord Jesus Christ, 
is specially appropriate as we draw near in the 
strength of our baptismal adoption to show 
forth our Lord's victorious death, and to seek 
the nourishment of our regenerate life. The 
summary given in the Catechism of what we 
" chiefly learn " in the articles of the Creed, is 
specially to be remembered as emphasizing the 
difference between our belief of or as to cer- 
tain facts and our belief in the personal God. 
To believe in a person means not merely that 
we believe that he exists, but it implies the 
surrender of ourselves in trust and confidence 
to the one in whom we believe. So a man be- 
lieves in his wife, a wife in her husband, or a 
child in its parents. This surrender of our- 
selves in perfect trust and obedience to God, 
made known to us in His threefold being as 
Father^ Son, and Holy Spirit, and standing to 
us in a threefold relation as our Creator, Re- 



i6 



Holy Communion 



deemer, and Sanctifier, is what should be im- 
plied in our recitation of the Christian Creed. 
Our thoughts are thus lifted from self to God, 
and to the spiritual realization of His glory, 
to whose special presence we are drawing 
near. 

All the twelve articles of the Creed, which 
are distinguished one from another as printed 
in our American Prayer Book by a colon be- 
tween each and the n^xt, are summed up in 
our beUef in the Father our Creator, the in- 
carnate Son our Redeemer, and the Holy 
Ghost our Sanctifier. The facts and truths in 
which we profess our belief, under each of the 
three heads of the Creed, tell of something 
concerning each person of the Triune God; 
they are all to be regarded in this light. We 
thankfully enumerate the different mysteries 
in the incarnate life of the Son of God, where- 
by our redemption was wrought out; we re- 
joice in the mention of the means whereby the 
Holy Spirit carries on His work of sanctifica- 
tion; gathering us into the holy Church, 
wherein He dwells, binding us together in the 
communion or fellowship of His people, be- 
stowing upon us the forgiveness of sins 
through our new birth of water and the Spirit 
in baptism, and thus preparing us for a joyful 
resurrection of the body and for the life of the 
world to come. The Creed should be repeat- 
ed, not as a dry statement of dogmas but with 



The Creed 



17 



a note of exultation, as a hymn of praise to 
God, to whom we can offer no higher praise 
than to declare His nature and His works, 
what He is as He has made Himself known to 
us^ and what He has done on our behalf. 

In this connection it should be noted that the 
Creed, whether in its shorter or its longer form, 
is simply a statement of facts; it contains no 
doctrines, in the narrower sense of theories 
and explanations of the facts. How God, 
while absolutely one in His being, exists in a 
threefold manner ; how the divine and human 
natures are united in the one person of our 
Lord Jesus Christ; the explanation of the 
atonement ; the exact nature of the resurrection 
body — these are all interesting studies for the 
theologian, but such questions are not touched 
in the profession of faith required of candi- 
dates for baptism or of those approaching the 
sacrament of the altar. The most dogmatic 
expressions of the Nicene Creed only state, 
without attempting to explain, facts concern- 
ing the true Godhead of the Son and of the 
Holy Spirit, and were intended to guard the 
truth of the facts against the denials of phi- 
losophers, who would not believe aught that 
passed their own power of comprehension. 

In Eastern Christendom the Creed is said in 
the plural, We believe.'' Our Western form 
in the first person singular, which probably 
reproduces the earliest baptismal profession 



1 8 Holy Communion 



of faith, has its special significance. While the 
Creed is the confession of the whole Catholic 
Church, the blessed company of all faithful 
people, the body of Christ taught by the Spirit 
of truth, yet its truths must be appropriated 
by each one of us as living members of the 
body. Individually we are to live by faith in 
the Father who made me and all the world, 
the Son who redeemed me and all mankind, 
and the Holy Ghost who sanctifieth me and all 
the people of God.'' He that hath an ear, 
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the 
churches.'' (Rev. ii. 7.) 

For a devotional exposition of the Creed, 
showing how we are, in St. Jude's words, to 
build up ourselves, our moral and spiritual life, 
on the foundation of our most holy faith, ref- 
erence may be made to the author's Medita- 
tions on the Creed/' while a simple but exceed- 
ingly helpful explanation of some of the arti- 
cles which present most difficulty is given in 
Gore's " Creed of the Christian." 

THE SERMON. 

It will be noticed that this is the only place 
in the regular services of the Church where a 
sermon is prescribed. The Holy Communion 
being the chief and central act of worship, it 
was supposed that all would be present when 
it was celebrated ; accordingly the sermon was 
then to be delivered, as notices (according to 



The Offertory 19 



the preceding rubric) were then to be given, 
and offerings then made. The position of the 
sermon in the course of the service should 
further be noted. It follows the reading of 
the Epistle and Gospel and the recitation of the 
Creed, and naturally will commonly be based 
on one or other of these, expounding some 
truth of our religion, and showing the motives 
which it affords for holy living. Preceding 
the greater part of the prayers, rather than 
coming at the end of a service, the sermon is 
intended to help the people to join intelligently 
and devoutly in all that follows. The ap- 
proach to God in prayer and sacraments, like 
the hearing of His word, is of course to lead 
to a life in conformity with His will, that we 
may go forth from our worship enlightened, 
strengthened, and inspired to do His will in all 
the appointed circumstances of our daily life. 

THE OFFERTORY. 

Along with our prayers our alms, in the 
widest sense, should go up before God. (Acts 
X. 4, 31.) In our great central act of worship 
we offer Him in the elements of bread and wine 
and in our money representatives of the gifts 
which He has bestowed upon us, as an ac- 
kno^yledgment that all things come of Him, 
and in order that they may be used for the ac- 
complishment of His purposes. Of these nat- 
ural gifts the bread and wine thus offered in 



20 



Holy Communion 



acknowledgment of God's sovereignty are 
blessed by Him for higher purposes, and re- 
turned to us as the means whereby we receive 
the spiritual food of our Lord's Body and 
Blood for the strengthening and refreshing of 
our souls. This may serve to remind us of a 
law of God's dealing, which was illustrated m 
Christ's feeding of the multitude. He required 
that the disciples should bring to Him what 
they had (St. Matt. xiv. 1^19), however in- 
adequate for the need, and then He blessed 
and used this offering in a way which far ex- 
ceeded their expectation. 

The bread and wine represent the sustenance 
of our life, and correspond with the gifts which 
God bestows on us for our use ; our alms repre- 
sent that portion of our time and money which 
we specially dedicate to the service of His 
kingdom. Thus the two together represent 
the entire consecration of all that we have to 
be offered to God in the name of His dear 
Son. In this connection we should note that 
in the elements of bread and wine we offer not 
merely fruits of the earth, but these cultivated 
and prepared by man's labour and care So 
in the Levitical sacrifices " it was required that 
man's life and labour should have entered into 
that which was offered to God." * 

* Westcott on The Epistle to the Hebrews, p. 289, 
and Visitation Addresses on the Holy Communion by 
J. Wordsworth, pp. 29, 30. 



The Intercessions 



21 



THE INTERCESSIONS. 

St. Paul's bidding that in the assembly of 
the faithful prayers, supplications, interces- 
sions^ and giving of thanks be made for all 
men, gives the key to the prayer for the whole 
state of Christ's Church militant. (1. Tim. 
ii. I, 2.) The Holy Communion binds us all 
in fellowship one with another in our common 
Lord. So, when we have offered our gifts, we 
make our prayers for all : ( i ) For the peace 
and unity of the whole body of Christians ; (2) 
according to the Apostle's injunction, first 
among special classes for kings and all that 
are in authority, remembering their own needs 
and the influence which they must exert on 
those over whom they rule ; (3) for the clergy, 
with a like twofold remembrance of their per- 
sonal needs and of their ministerial respon- 
sibilities; (4) for the laity of all classes and 
ranks, and specially for the congregation join- 
ing in the present service; (5) for the sick 
and suffering, that their sorrows may accord- 
ing to God's wisdom be relieved or blessed; 
(6) to these prayers for different classes of 
persons in the Church militant and struggling 
on earth we add our thanksgivings for all who 
have been carried safely through the tempta- 
tions and trials of earth, and who, having de- 
parted this life in God's faith and fear, await 



22 



Holy Communion 



the perfection of their bliss at the manifesta- 
tion of His heavenly kingdom. 

Under these different heads we shall natu- 
rally have special cases to remember before 
God. The general prayer will have its appli- 
cation in our minds to various particular per- 
sons. 

Corruptions and exaggerations concerning 
the condition of the departed led by way of 
reaction (natural, but not less deeply to be 
regretted) to the omission from the reformed 
liturgy of explicit prayers for the faithful de- 
parted. Such petitions, for their present rest 
and peace and for the hastening of their final 
joy, were universal in early liturgies. The 
following from the liturgy attributed to St. 
James may be quoted as a specimen : 

Remember, O Lord, thou God of spirits 
and of all flesh, the right believers whom we 
have remembered and whom we have not re- 
membered, from righteous Abel unto this day ; 
make thou them to rest yonder in the land of 
the living, in thy kingdom, in the enjoyments 
of paradise, in the bosoms of our holy fathers, 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from whence pain, 
sorrow, and sighing are fled away, where the 
light of thy countenance visiteth them, and 
shineth perpetually."* 

* Purgatory, the State of the Faithful Departed, In- 
vocation of Saints, by A. J. Mason, p. 67. 



The Preparation of the Communicants 23 



THE PREPARATION OF THE COM- 
MUNICANTS. 

This next section of the service, the Prepa- 
ration of the Communicants, is likewise based 
upon apostolic teaching. (I Cor. xi. 23-34.) 
St. Paul's words about examining or proving 
one's self before eating of the Bread and drink- 
ing of the Cup should be carefully read, and 
in the Revised Version, where it will be seen 
that, stern as is the apostle's warning, his 
words have not that absolutely terrifying char- 
acter which keeps so many persons from ap- 
proaching the sacrament. 

1. The word judgment " should be substi- 
tuted for " damnation/' which in modern Eng- 
lish use has come to be limited to final and 
eternal loss, whereas St. Paul is plainly speak- 
ing of temporal judgments which follow pro- 
fane treatment of the holy sacrament (verse 
30), judgments which, however severe in some 
cases, were intended to bring persons to a bet- 
ter mind, that so they might not be condemned 
at last (verse 32). 

2. To eat and drink "unworthily," that is 
to treat the sacrament as a common thing, 
" not discerning the Lord's body," not recog- 
nizing the inner significance of the rite, is en- 
tirely different from eating and drinking while 
" unworthy " of so great a gift. We are all 



24 



Holy Communion 



taught in the prayer of humble access (im- 
mediately before the consecration) to acknowl- 
edge ourselves not worthy. The greater the 
spiritual earnestness, the more careful the 
preparation of the intending communicant, the 
more keenly will this be felt. But this sense 
of our unworthiness of God's loving conde- 
scension and favour will be a safeguard against 
treating His gifts unworthily through care- 
lessness and indifference, or in profane con- 
tempt. 

3. A distinction, often overlooked, should 
further be noted between the self-examination 
on which the apostle lays stress and the word as 
commonly understood in manuals of prepara- 
tion for Holy Communion. What the apostle 
is specially concerned with is the present spir- 
itual condition of the person, his attitude tow- 
ard God. Let a man examine or prove him- 
self,'' and see where he stands, whether he be 
in the faith (H Cor. xiii. 5), true to his bap- 
tismal dedication and regeneration. What he 
has done or left undone is important as tending 
to make him what he is ; if he has fallen into 
sins, they must be repented of and shaken off. 
But it is to be feared that too often a person's 
attention is fastened on past acts rather than 
on what is the really important consideration, 
his present condition, and the positive qualities 
which every Christian as such is called to show. 
(See Gal. v. 22-25.) 



The Preparation of the Communicants 25 



4. One other distinction may be remem- 
bered. We do not come to the Holy Com- 
munion to receive the forgiveness of our sins. 
That is to be gained beforehand, on our re- 
pentance in all its parts (as set forth in the 
Warning when notice is given of Holy Com- 
munion) — sorrow for sin, confession of sin, 
firm purpose of amendment, the making of 
such reparation as is possible for wrong-doing. 
This repentance, if necessary, is to be mani- 
fested and perfected in a confession of our sins 
before a priest, as the representative alike of 
God and of the Church, from whom an indi- 
vidual absolution may be received, setting a 
seal to our reconciliation, and restoring us to 
our baptismal position. But in any case we 
are to come to Holy Communion reconciled. 
The sacred food at our Father's board, while 
the pledge of our being in His favour, is for the 
nourishment of our regenerate life. In the 
strength of that regenerate life we must draw 
near to receive it. Hence the requirement in 
the Catechism of Faith, Repentance, and Char- 
ity on the part of those who come to the Lord's 
Supper. Faith is the positive exercise of the 
powers of our regenerate life, the realizing of 
the privileges to which we are admitted ; Re- 
pentance is the negative side of the same, 
throwing off the sins which have come in to 
clog and hinder the life of Christ within us ; 
Charity recognizes our fellowship one with an- 



26 



Holy Communion 



other in the family of God, as fellow-members 
of Christ's body. Thus we are to come to 
Holy Communion in the power of our regen- 
erate life as members of Christ, drawing near 
to God in reliance on the presence and grace of 
the Holy Spirit, whose working in us is shown 
in the gifts of Faith and Repentance and 
Charity. 

Our sins then are to be forgiven before com- 
ing to Holy Communion. Our remaining 
sinfulness is to be more and more remedied by 
fresh union with our Lord's perfected human- 
ity, our sinful bodies being made clean by His 
body, and our souls washed in His most pre- 
cious blood. Accordingly in the service itself 
a Confession and Absolution are provided as 
a part of the preparation before reception. 

In the longer Exhortation Dearly beloved 
in the Lord ") should be noticed the noble 
statement of the great truths of the Trinity, 
the Incarnation, and the Redemption; in the 
shorter Exhortation ("Ye who do truly and 
earnestly repent") the qualifications required 
in those who would communicate — repentance 
for past sin, charity toward all, a right inten- 
tion for the future ; in the Confession the 
threefold division of sins, by thought and word 
and deed. 

A general Absolution is to be regarded, like 
a benediction, as an authoritative invoking of 
God's mercy and pardon by one appointed to 



The Preparation of the Commiuiicaiits 27 



plead with Him. This gift will surely be be- 
stowed on everyone fittingly disposed to re- 
ceive it. And if the son of peace be there, 
your peace shall rest upon the house. (St. 
Luke X. 6.) A general absolution cannot have 
the judicial character that belongs to an abso- 
lution pronounced after a particular confession 
of sins by one who submits his case to the 
judgment of the Church as represented by the 
priest. The full exercise of the power to re- 
mit sins in Christ's name must be accompanied 
by the opportunity to retain sins. (St. John 
XX. 23.) 

On the other hand, with reference to a pub- 
lic confession, it should be remembered that 
sin has two sides, (i) against Almighty God, 
His grace and love, and (2) against the fel- 
lowship of the Church, whose power it weak- 
ens, and whose life it hinders. Accordingly 
the solemn confession is made not only in the 
presence of God, but also before the congrega- 
tion representing our brethren in Christ; and 
the absolution has not only a reference to the 
needs of our own individual souls, but also to 
the restoring in us of the spiritual influence 
and energy which we are to use for the benefit 
of the whole body of Christ. 

On the whole question of Absolution refer- 
ence may be made to Joseph Bingham's two 
Sermons and two Letters concerning the Nat- 
ure and Necessity of the several sorts of Abso- 
lution. Bingham's Works, vol. x. 



28 



Holy Communion 



THE COMFORTABLE WORDS. 

After the Absolution are repeated the Com- 
fortable Words, some of the most precious 
declarations of Holy Scripture to confirm the 
hope and gratitude of the pardoned worship- 
pers/'* These were taken from Archbishop 
Hermann's Consultation/' f where, however, 
they preceded the Absolution as scriptural 
statements upon which it rested. 

1. First is repeated our Lord's gracious in- 
vitation to all who are weary and heavy laden 
to come to Him for rest and peace. ( St. Matt, 
xi. 28.) Our Lord's words of promise are no 
less true now than when He was on the earth; 
on the contrary, they have both a wider reach 
and a deeper meaning now that He is en- 
throned on high and dispenses the fulness of 
the Father's gifts to all His people. 

2. Then is rehearsed the declaration of the 
Father's love (St. John iii. 16), which prompt- 
ed Him to give His Son not only to die for 
us, but also to be our spiritual food and sus- 
tenance in this holy sacrament." The eter- 
nal life " we find in Christ is not merely a fut- 

Frere, p. 504. , . , . . , , 

t Hermann was a reforming archbishop of 
Cologne. His book, A Simple and Religious Con- 
sultation, dealing both with doctrine and with 
forms of worship, was published in 1543, and an 
English translation in 1547. See Frere, pp. 28, 29. 



The Comfortable Words 29 



ure gift, though it will have its full realization 
in the world to come; it is that life which is 
life indeed " (I Tim. vi. 19), which comes from 
the knowledge and love of the true God and 
of His Son. (St. John xvii. 3; I St. John v. 

The belief in Christ which is the condition 
of this gift does not consist in any merely in- 
tellectual act ; it involves the surrender of our- 
selves to Him in humble trust and loving 
obedience. 

3. The "faithful saying'' which St. Paul 
quotes (I Tim. i. 15) may have been a frag- 
ment of a hymn on Redemption commonly re- 
peated among Christians in early days.* Re- 
membering the ignorance and alienation from 
which he had himself been rescued^ the apostle 
adds, " of whom I am chief.'' 

4. St. John's words, If any man sin," etc., 
are no encouragement to think lightly of sin. 
In the whole passage (I St. John i. 5-ii. 6) 
the beloved disciple is urging the inconsistency 
of sin (moral darkness) with any claim to 
have fellowship with God, who is perfect light. 
On our repentance God not only forgives but 
cleanses us. In our regenerate condition sin 
should be more and more done away. Yet 

* For other Christian hymns imbedded in the 
New Testament Scriptures see Lauda Sion (New 
York Church Club Lectures, 1896); Lect. II., The 
Hymns of the Eucharist, pp. 51-53- 



30 Holy Communion 



so long as we are in the world it will not be 
wholly removed, but we shall from time to time 
fall into sins of infirmity. The presence of a 
petition for forgiveness in the Lord's Prayer 
(the prayer of God's reconciled children) 
teaches us the continual need of repentance 
for the Christian, even though grievous and 
deliberate sins have been forsaken. ^ The inci- 
dental commission of lesser sins will be par- 
doned to the Christian for Christ's sake, to 
whom we are united. Thus, while many sins 
are left behind, we shall always need to seek 
the promised cleansing from all sin. In pro- 
portion as this is realized, our eyes are opened 
by God's Spirit to further duties and calls for 
service, and to new ideals of life, the failure 
to realize which, when recognized, opens out 
new possibilities of sin, and therefore af- 
fords new occasion for repentance and confes- 
sion. 

In Bishop Seabury's Communion Office a 
" private ejaculation " is given after each of the 
Comfortable Words: 

1. Refresh, O Lord, thy servant wearied 
with the burden of sin. 

2. Lord, I believe in thy Son Jesus Christ, 
and let this faith purify me from all iniq- 
uity. 

3. I embrace with all thankfulness that sal- 
vation that Jesus has brought into the world. 

4. Intercede for me, O blessed Jesu! that 



The Stir sum Cor da 31 



my sins may be pardoned through the merits 
of thy death. 

THE SURSUM CORDA. 

The bidding, Lift up your hearts," with 
the response of the people, We Hft them up 
unto the Lord,'' followed by the hymn of 
praise, are among the most ancient parts of 
the service for Holy Communion. They are 
found in all the early liturgies that have come 
down to us. St. Cyril of Jerusalem in his ex- 
planation of the service, given in the Church 
of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, in a.d. 347, 
to those who had been recently initiated into 
the Christian Church, says : 

" After this the priest cries aloud, ' Lift up 
your hearts.' For truly ought we in that most 
awful hour to have our heart on high with God, 
and not below, thinking of earth and earthly 
things. The priest then in effect bids all in 
that hour abandon all worldly thoughts, or 
household cares, and to have their heart in 
heaven with the merciful God. Then ye an- 
swer, ' We lift them up unto the Lord ' : as- 
senting to him by your avowal. But let no one 
come here who with his lips can say, ' We lift 
up our hearts to the Lord,' but in mind employs 
his thoughts on worldly business. God indeed 

* A Half Century of the Legislation of the 
American Church, vol. iii., p. 445. 



32 Holy Communion 



should be in our memory at all times, but if 
this is impossible by reason of human infirmity, 
at least in that hour this should be our earnest 
endeavour. 

" Then the priest says, ' Let us give thanks 
to the Lord/ For in good sooth are we bound 
to give thanks, that He has called us, unworthy 
as we are, to so great grace ; that He has recon- 
ciled us who were His foes; that He hath 
vouchsafed to us the Spirit of adoption. Then 
ye say, * It is meet and right ' : for in giving 
thanks we do a meet thing and a right ; but He 
did, not a right thing, but what was more than 
right, when He did us good, and counted us 
meet for such great benefits/'''' 

We are bidden not merely to collect our 
wandering thoughts and fix them on the things 
of God, but also to remember that, even while 
in the body and on this earth, we are made in 
Christ, as united with Him, to sit in heavenly 
places; admitted, that is, to fellowship with 
God, and with His saints and angels, and en- 
dued with spiritual privileges such as will be 
fully realized in the world to come. (Eph. 
i. 3; ii. 6.) In this spirit we are called to 
praise God the thrice-holy, whose almighty 
Power is ever exercised according to infinite 
Wisdom and in perfect Love, for what He is 
in His own infinite being, and for all that He 

♦The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril, lect. 
xxiii. 



The Sursum Cor da 33 



has done for us in our creation, redemption, 
and sanctification. 

The older Eastern liturgies often gave here 
a long enumeration of God's works in creation 
and redemption, for which we praise His holy 
name. The proper Prefaces for certain chief 
festivals emphasize the great truths which 
those festivals commemorate — the Incarnation 
of the Son of God ; the redeeming Passion and 
Resurrection of our Lord ; His Ascension into 
heaven as our head and leader ; the gift of the 
Holy Spirit; the Triune being of God. 

The Ter sanctus is taken from the song of 
the seraphim (among the highest orders of 
angelic beings) in Isaiah vi., and from the 
song of the four living beings, in Revelation 
iv., who are represented in St. John's vision as 
leading the worship of all God's servants. To 
us, as to St. John, a door is opened in heaven, 
that we may share in this worship of the 
heavenly host, gathered round the Lamb stand- 
ing before the throne as it had been slain, bear- 
ing, that is, the marks of a sacrificial death.* 
In the eucharist Christ does not descend again 
to earth or earthly conditions ; rather He lifts 
us up to Himself in the spiritual world. 

It was the vision of the divine glory that 
called forth from Isaiah the dedication of him- 
self to God's service. (Isa. vi. 8.) So our 
joy in the worship of the thrice-holy is to be 
* Rev. V. 6. 



34 



Holy Communion 



made real by the consecration of ourselves to 
His service in the carrying out of His purposes 
and the extension of His kingdom. 

The twofold function of the angels' service 
is to have its counterpart in ours. Worship- 
ping with them before the throne of God, we 
are like them to go forth to active ministry in 
God's service. (Heb. i. 14.) 

THE PRAYER OF HUMBLE ACCESS. 

The prayer of humble access has already 
been touched upon under the head of the 
Preparation of the Communicants. We should 
notice the combining of the two ideas, (i) of 
the reality of the spiritual gift offered, and (2) 
of the necessity, for its profitable reception, of 
right dispositions and a spiritual appetite: 
" Grant us so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son 
. . . that our sinful bodies may be made 
clean by His body." 

THE PRAYER OF CONSECRATION. 

In the prayer of consecration (i) we re- 
hearse the account of our Lord's institution of 
the holy sacrament as the ground and warrant 
for our celebration thereof. The priest re- 
peats our Lord's acts and words. Subsequent- 
ly (3) in The Invocation we pray that these 
may be made efficacious now by the power of 



The Prayer of Consecration 35 



the Holy Spirit, so that what the bread which 
Christ brake and the cup which He blessed be- 
came to the apostles they may become to us. 
Meanwhile (2) in The Oblation, in the way 
that He appointed, with the gifts that He or- 
dained, we make a solemn memorial before 
God of Christ's victorious sacrifice, His blessed 
passion and precious death. His mighty resur- 
rection and glorious ascension, rendering unto 
God most hearty thanks for the innumerable 
benefits procured unto us by the same — the 
conquest of Satan by Christ's obedience unto 
death, the forgiveness of our sins, the opening 
of the kingdom of heaven to all who follow 
Him. 

Thus do we, in the apostle's words, show " 
or ''proclaim our Lord's death" (I Cor. xi. 
26), making our boast in His triumph; and 
then we claim our share in its benefits. In glad 
exultation we tell the great things which He 
has wrought; in solemn pleading we beg for 
ourselves and for all His whole Church — the 
living and the departed — '' the forgiveness of 
our sins, and all other benefits of his passion." 
This is the meaning of the name Eucharist 
(Thanksgiving) applied to the sacrament of 
our Lord's Body and Blood. It is our sacri- 
fice of praise and thanksgiving," as in the ap- 
pointed way we make our memorial before 
God of the redeeming sacrifice of His dear Son. 
" As often as ye eat this bread and drink this 



36 



Holy Communion 



cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come/' 
" Do this for a remembrance of me." (I Cor. 
xi. 24-26.) 

And now, O Father, mindful of the love 
That bought us, once for all, on Calvary s tree. 

And having with us Him that pleads above, 
We here present, we here spread forth to Thee, 

That only offering perfect in Thine eyes, 

The one true, pure, immortal sacrifice.* 

It is of great importance that we should ap- 
proach the eucharistic oblation from this side. 
It is not a sacrifice that we offer in order that 
we may be reconciled, as if we were outside the 
covenant of God; it is the memorial of our 
Lord's sacrifice whereby we have been re- 
deemed ; it is the thank-offering of those who 
are in covenant with God, and who rejoice m 
the privileges to which they have been ad- 
mitted. 

Accordingly the Communion is an mtegrai 
part of the eucharistic rite. Neither part, the 
oblation nor the communion, stands alone, 
apart from the other. Like the Passover, 
which was its fullest type in the old Law, the 
eucharist is a sacrificial feast. The offerer is 
admitted to feast at the holy table upon that 
which has first been presented to God; so is 
he made partaker of the virtue of the sacrifice, 

* Eucharistic hymn, by William Bright. Hym- 
nal, No. 228. 



The Prayer of Consecration 37 



The benefit of the sacrifice is applied in the 
feast ; the feast gains its meaning and signifi- 
cance from the oblation. " Christ, our paschal 
lamb^ is sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep 
the feast." (I Cor. v. 7, 8.) 

As the Passover (both in its original insti- 
tution and in its annual commemoration) was 
the divinely appointed means for Israel to real- 
ize and claim the redemption from the hand of 
their oppressors which God wrought for His 
people; so the eucharist shows forth the vic- 
tory over evil accomplished by our Lord in His 
passion, while by the continual pleading of 
this oblation of Himself once offered, and by 
feeding upon His Body and Blood, we are 
maintained in the new covenant which He has 
made, and are enabled for His service. 

There is another aspect of the showing the 
Lord's death, which is emphasized in the 
Prayer of Consecration. We proclaim it in 
glad thanksgiving; we represent it in solemn 
pleading ; we show it forth likewise as the law 
of Christian living. Accordingly we are 
taught along with the perfect oblation of Christ 
to " offer ourselves, our souls and bodies, a 
reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice " to God. 
The obedience of Christ our head was perfect- 
ed through the things which He suffered. 
(Heb. ii. 10; v. 8.) His mystical body, with 
all its members, is to be perfected and accepted 
according to the same law of sacrifice and 



38 



Holy Communion 



obedience unto death. We too must die to 
the lower that we may rise to the higher life. 
The seed of the woman ever bruises the ser- 
pent's head at the expense of its own heel be- 
ing bruised in the encounter. (Gen. iii. 15.) 
Feeding upon the broken bread and drinking 
of the outpoured cup we are gathered into fel- 
lowship with our Lord's passion, that, being 
united with Him in the likeness of His death, 
we may be also in the likeness of His resurrec- 
tion. (Rom. vi. sO As we realize the power of 
Christ's passion in our own lives, in overcom- 
ing sin and strengthening us for God's ser- 
vice, so we are enabled with greater apprecia- 
tion' to rejoice in its victory and to plead its 
power for others. 

Thus is the eucharist seen to be the great act 
of worship of the Christian Church, ''our 
bounden duty and service." Along with 
Christ's perfect oblation of Himself we offer 
ourselves, all we have and all we are, to the 
Father to do His will. Our imperfect obedi- 
ence, like our imperfect praise, is accepted 
through Jesus Christ our Lord, by whom and 
with whom, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, is 
all honour and glory to God the Father Al- 
mighty, world without end. 



The Reception 



39 



THE RECEPTION. 

Whene'er I seek the holy altar's rail, 

And kneel to take the grace there offered me, 
It is no time to task my reason frail, 

To try Christ's words, and search how they may 
be; 

Enough, I eat His Flesh and drink His Blood, 
More is not told — to ask it is not good. 

I will not say with these, that bread and wine 
Have vanish'd at the consecration prayer; 

Far less with those deny that aught divine 
And of immortal seed is hidden there. 

Hence, disputants! The din, which ye admire, 

Keeps but ill measure with the Church's choir.* 

The definition of the word Sacrament in the 
Catechism may well be kept in mind, together 
with its explanation of the Sacrament of the 
Lord's Supper. A sacrament is an out^yard 
and visible sign of an inward and spiritual 
grace given unto us; [the outward sign] or- 
dained by Christ himself, as a means whereby 
we receive the same [/.^., the inward and spirit- 
ual grace], and a pledge to assure us thereof.'' 
The outward part or sign of the Lord's Supper 
— the bread and wine which the Lord hath 
commanded to be received — both symbolizes 
and by God's ordinance is the means of convey- 
ing to us the inward part or thing signified, 
the Body and Blood of Christ, for the strength- 

♦John Henry Newman, in Lyra Apostolica, 
xxxiii. 



40 



Holy Communion 



ening and refreshing of our souls, as our 
bodies are strengthened and refreshed by the 
bread and wine. (I Cor. x. i6.) 

Sacraments are divinely appointed meeting- 
places for the soul with God. As in every 
place where He records His name, so in every 
ordinance which He has instituted. He pledges 
Himself to meet with His people and bestow 
upon them the blessing attached to that or- 
dinance. (Exod. XX. 24.) ''Draw nigh to 
God, and He will draw nigh to you.'' (St. 
James iv. 8.) But our approach must be not 
only in bodily presence, or with outstretched 
hand ; we ourselves, our spiritual being, must 
draw near in the power that His Spirit gives. 
We must lift up our hearts to God^ laying bare 
the faculties of our inner being to receive His 
touch of blessing. So only can a spiritual gift 
be received. The hand of faith must lay hold 
of it and appropriate it. As during our Lord's 
earthly life many pressed against Him, but 
only those who had faith drew virtue from 
their contact with Him; even so is it with the 
sacraments of grace. Therefore is it said in 
the words which accompany the delivery of the 
sacrament, ''The Body of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy 
body and soul unto everlasting life. Take and 
eat this in remembrance that Christ died for 
thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith, 
with thanksgiving." 



The Reception 



41 



Communion in both kinds was distinctly 
ordained by Christ. Take eat, this is my 
body/' He said; and, as He gave the cup, 
Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the 
covenant, which is shed for many/' Rever- 
ence and obedience would make us shrink from 
any deviation from our Lord's institution. 
And we may be sure that some special grace 
belongs, according to His design, to the recep- 
tion of each element of the sacrament, while 
in each we are linked with His sacred man- 
hood. 

Throughout Holy Scripture the blood is the 
symbol of life. (Gen. ix. 4; Levit. xvii. 11.) 
Blood shed signifies life laid down. (Psalm 
Ixxii. 14; Heb. ix. 22; Rev. vi. 10.) Blood 
sprinkled or drunk signifies life imparted. 
(Levit. xiv. 14, xvi. 15-19; Heb. ix. 14, x. 24, 
xii. 24; I St. Peter i. 2; I St. John i. 7.) See 
the Note on " The idea of Christ's Blood in the 
New Testament " in Westcott's Epistles of 
St. John," p. 34. _ 

While others are receiving we have special 
opportunity for gathering up our devotions in 
acts of adoration and thanksgiving, in holy 
resolutions and intercessions. 



42 



Holy Communion 



THE LORD'S PRAYER. 

In nearly all the early liturgies the Lord's 
Prayer is said at the conclusion of the canon 
or prayer of consecration, with which was 
joined the intercession for the living and the 
departed. The words given by our Lord 
summed up the prayer of His Church in cele- 
brating the rite which He ordained for His 
perpetual remembrance. The position of the 
Lord's Prayer in our service has its special sig- 
nificance and beauty. Just as in the adminis- 
tration of baptism the first words said by or on 
behalf of the newly initiated member of Christ 
are the " Our Father " ; so here immediately 
after our union with Him has been anew as- 
sured and strengthened by our feeding on His 
sacred Body and Blood, the first words of com- 
mon prayer uttered by all the congregation are 
"Our Father." Afresh united with Christ, 
we address ourselves to His Father and our 
Father, to His God and our God; and along 
with Christ desire the hallowing of the Father's 
name, the manifestation of the Father's king- 
dom, the accomplishment of the Father's will. 
United afresh with our brethren by our com- 
mon partaking of the sacred food, we pray to 
the one Father not for ourselves alone, but for 
the good of all. " We, who are many, are one 
bread (or loaf), one body; for we all partake 
of the one bread {or loaf)." (I Cor. x. 17.) 



The Thanksgiving after Communion 43 



Meum and tuum (mine and thine) are not 
Christian words; Paternoster (Our Father) is 
the rule of Christian prayer, and therefore of 
Christian desire and Hfe. 

A eucharistic application of several of the 
clauses of the Prayer will be found in the au- 
thor's " Meditations on the Lord's Prayer." 

THE THANKSGIVING AFTER COM- 
MUNION. 

We are reminded in this prayer that the re- 
ception of sacraments is a means to a further 
end. We must use the grace which we have 
received. We must seek to abide in the fel- 
lowship — with God and with our brethren — 
into which we have been gathered. We must 
go forth from our worship to an obedient and 
self-sacrificing life of service, to do and bear 
and dare whatever God may call us to. " Al- 
ready ye are clean/' said our Lord to His dis- 
ciples, " because of the word which I have 
spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. 
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, ex- 
cept it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, 
except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are 
the branches. He that abideth in me, and I 
in him, the same beareth much fruit : for apart 
from me ye can do nothing." (St. John xv, 
3-50 



44 



Holy Communion 



THE GLORIA IN EXCELSIS. 

After the institution of the sacrament of 
His Body and Blood our Lord and His dis- 
ciples, "when they had sung a hymn/' went 
out unto the Mount of Olives. (St. Mark 
xiv. 26.) This hymn was probably the group 
of Psalms cxiii. to cxviii. called the great Hal- 
lel, which was ordinarily sung by the Jews in 
connection with the Passover. Having of- 
fered Himself in intention to the Father, His 
Body to be broken, His Blood to be shed, our 
Lord goes forth not reluctantly, but with a holy 
gladness, to Gethsemane, and Gabbatha, and 
Golgotha, where the sacrifice was to be con- 
summated by the hands of others. So He 
would have us go forth to perform our vows 
with a song of praise in our hearts and on our 
lips. " When the burnt offering began, the 
song of the Lord began also with the trump- 
ets.'' (II Chron. xxix. 27.) See a sermon on 
this text entitled The Joy of Self-sacrifice," 
by Phillips Brooks, in ''The Candle of the 
Lord and other Sermons." 

Regarded thus, the position of the Gloria in 
excelsis at the end of our service has a special 
appropriateness. In earlier liturgies its place 
was commonly at the beginning of the service, 
even as the angels' song, on which the hymn is 
founded, heralded the birth of the incarnate 
Son. (St. Luke ii. 14.) At the end of the 



The Blessing 



45 



service the words are to be regarded ( i ) as a 
thanksgiving, declaring the effect of our Lord's 
life and work, the benefits of which have been 
applied to us in the holy mysteries we have re- 
ceived. (2) Following the thanksgiving is a 
series of earnest petitions to our Lord^ Him- 
self the priest and victim of our sacrifice, to 
have mercy upon us, and to receive our prayer. 
(3) The hymn ends with a doxology addressed 
to our Lord, who has raised our human nat- 
ure to the very throne of God, to be the instru- 
ment of the Father's working. 

For the early use of the Gloria in excelsis as 
a morning hymn, and its later adoption into 
the eucharistic service^ see Lauda Sion/' p. 
69, etc. 

THE BLESSING. 

Our worship over, the holy mysteries per- 
formed according to the Lord's appointment, 
the priest is to let the people depart with the 
blessing, in which (i) he invokes upon them, 
in the apostle's words, the peace of God which 
passeth all understanding, to rule their minds 
through the knowledge, and their hearts 
through the love of God, as He is made known 
to us by Jesus Christ His Son. (St. John 
xvii. 3.) 

(2) Then, as in the old law the priest was to 
put the Lord's Name upon the children of Is- 



46 



Holy Communion 



rael, and He would bless them (Num. vi. 22- 
27), so the full Name by which Christ has 
made God known to us, the Name into which 
we were baptized (St. Matt, xxviii. 19), is 
called upon us, and the blessing of the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, our Creator, Re- 
deemer, and Sanctifier, is implored to be 
amongst us and remain with us always, ac- 
companying us from the sanctuary to our 
homes and business, amid our joys and sor- 
rows. 

So we depart in peace, in the name of the 
Lord. 

" Rejoice in the Lord alway ; again I will say, 
rejoice. Let your forbearance be known unto 
all men. The Lord is at hand. In nothing 
be anxious ; but in everything by prayer and 
supplication with thanksgiving let your re- 
quests be made known unto God. And the 
peace of God, which passeth all understanding, 
shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in 
Christ Jesus/' (Phil. iv. 4-7.) 



THE INTRODUCTORY PRAYERS. 

Ttie sentences from Scripture with which 
the service opens are in three groups: (i) 
Those suitable for any occasion of Morning or 
Evening Prayer; (2) those specially appro- 
priate for the different seasons of the Christian 
Year; (3) penitential sentences leading to the 
confession. 

Thus to a certain extent they serve the pur- 
pose of the antiphons in the older services, 
sentences of Scripture, generally varying with 
the season or day, which were sung before and 
after the Psalms and Canticles. 

The Confession and Absolution at the begin- 
ning of the service are intended to serve as a 
penitential introduction, that we may be the 
better prepared to sing God's praise, to hear 
His w^ord, and to offer our petitions. 

On the nature of a general confession and 
absolution, see the note on the service for Holy 
Communion, pp. 26, 27. 

After the penitential introduction (when 
used) we begin the service proper with the 
Lord's Prayer. The Our Father gives 
both the form of prayer which our Lord pre- 
47 



48 



Morning and Evening Prayer 



scribed for our use, and the pattern in accord- 
ance with which we should frame our own 
petitions. Thus at the beginning of our ser- 
vice we are taught to rule out desires that 
would not be in accordance with God's will: 
(i) To subordinate material and temporal in- 
terests to those which are spiritual and eternal. 
Before we ask anything for ourselves, even that 
which seems most necessary, like " daily 
bread,'' we pray " hallowed be thy name, thy 
kingdom come, thy will be done." 

(2) To subordinate individual to common 
interests : Our Father . . . give us 
. . . forgive us," etc. See also p. 42. 

In the versicle and response, " O Lord, open 
thou our lips," etc. (Psalm li. 15), we beg 
God's help that we may rightly (with rever- 
ence, attention, and devotion) join in His wor- 
ship. 

The doxology, Gloria Patri, which is re- 
peated also at the end of Psalms and Canticles, 
is an offering of worship to Almighty God as 
He is made known to us by Jesus Christ our 
Lord, existing eternally in a threefold mode of 
being, the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
Ghost, and having a threefold relation to us in 
time, as our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. 

" jPraise ye the Lord " is a translation of the 
Hebrew word Hallelujah, with which many of 
the Psalms begin and end, e.g., cxlvi.-cl. 



The Psalter 



49 



THE PSALTER. 

The Psalter is a divinely provided manual 
of devotion, the utterance of God's servants in 
ancient times, whose words have expressed the 
highest aspirations and deepest yearnings of 
His people under both the Jewish and Chris- 
tian dispensations. Our Lord Jesus Christ not 
only must have joined in the recitation of the 
Psalms in the Synagogue and Temple worship, 
but He appropriated them to His own personal 
use, two at least of the seven Sayings upon the 
Cross being taken from the Psalter: Psalm 
xxii. I, St. Matt, xxvii. 46, St. Mark xv. 34; 
Psalm xxxi. 5, St. Luke xxiii. 46; perhaps also 
Psalm Ixix. 21, St. John xix. 28. 

In union with Christ, the incarnate Son, as 
His members and endued with His Spirit, we 
should say the Psalms with a fuller and deeper 
meaning than was possible for God's servants 
in the Jewish Church. Of this we should be 
continually reminded by the repetition of the 
Christian doxology at their close. Impreca- 
tions of personal vengeance, which mark a 
lower stage of the revelation of God's mind 
than that which is vouchsafed to us^ Christian 
people should understand as directed against 
sxnSy which defy God's wise and just rule, 
rather than against sinners, who may be won 
to repentance. 



50 Morning and Evening Prayer 



In the monthly recitation of the Psalter, in 
the daily Morning and Evening Prayer, we are 
led through all the varied kinds of Psalms — 
those of moral instruction, of penitence and 
thanksgiving, of self-surrender and of col- 
loquy with God, of contemplation of His works 
in nature and of His dealing with His people 
— to the Psalms of praise with which the book 
ends, and in which all the experiences of our 
spiritual life, reflected as it were in the Psalter, 
are intended to find their culmination. 

The Psalms reflect all kinds of situations 
of trial to which God's servants are exposed. 
The recitation of the Psalter should help us to 
transcend the limits of our own narrow experi- 
ence in realizing the varied experiences and 
trials of saints of God in circumstances very 
diflferent from our own. Thus we should be 
brought into spiritual fellowship with the whole 
struggling body of God's servants under all 
sorts of conditions. 

The Revised Version of the Bible (besides 
its greater accuracy of translation, which often 
clears difficulties) marks the different books, 
or collections, into which the Psalter is divid- 
ed, probably as the Psalms were gathered to- 
gether for use in the Jewish Church. It also 
prints the Psalms as Hebrew poetry, the^ dis- 
tinctive characteristic of which was neither 
rhyme nor metre, but the parallel presentation 
in follovvdng lines of slightly varying aspects 



The Lessons 



51 



of the same idea."^ The parallelism is roughly 
noted in the Prayer Book version of the Psalms 
(which is from the Great Bible of 1539) by 
the colon printed for chanting in the middle 
of each verse. 

The Psalter represents the earliest English 
of the Prayer Book, being taken from the first 
authorized edition of the English Bible. 

The anthem, Venite, exitltemuSj composed of 
Psalm xcv. 1-7 and Psalm xcvi. 9, 13, is used 
as an invitation to the praise of God in the 
daily service. From the time of St. Athana- 
sius (a.d. 373) Psalm xcv. has been used in 
this way. The Venite sets before us the 
thought of the divine presence, with which 
we should enter on the day, taking up its tasks 
with joy and thankfulness as we first bow be- 
fore the Lord our God. 

THE LESSONS. 

Of exceeding value is the rule of the Prayer 
Book in the Table of Lessons, which takes us 
through the whole of Holy Scripture, putting 
us to school as it were with the several writ- 
ers, that we may learn the lesson that each is 
intended to teach. This is an illustration of 
the way in which the Prayer Book guards the 
liberty of the people, while it puts a restriction 

*See also the two small volumes containing the 
Psalms in The Modern Reader's Bible. 



52 Morning and Evening Prayer 



upon the idiosyncrasies of the minister. In- 
stead of the congregation being limited to the 
minister's favourite Scriptures, or doctrines, 
or topics of prayer, the Table of Lessons, the 
Creed, and the Christian Year, the prescribed 
order of prayer, with its broad reach of inter- 
cessions, secure for both minister and people 
more varied instruction, a truer proportion of 
the faith, and wider sympathies in prayer. 

In the daily lessons practically the whole of 
the Old Testament is read in regular course 
once in each year, with selected portions of the 
Apocrypha; the New Testament (except the 
Revelation) is read twice, the book of the 
Revelation once during Advent ; while on Sun- 
days and Holy-days the proper lessons are 
taken from different parts of the older and 
later Scriptures. 

In the lessons from the Old Testament and 
the New Testament we should observe both 
(i) the connection between the two, the unity 
of purpose and idea running throughout all ; 
and (2) the growth and advance in the revela- 
tion of God's mind and will. We are not to 
look for the same clear revelation in the Le- 
vitical law as from the lips of our Lord, nor 
for the same standard of life in the patriarchs 
as in those who have been made members of 
Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit. God, 
who spake to the fathers by divers portions (m 
fragmentary fashion) and in divers manners 



The Lessons 



53 



(in dreams and visions), hath spoken unto us 
in His incarnate Son. (Heb. i. i, 2.) He 
leads on His people gently, teaching them as 
they are able to receive His word. 

In reading the history of God's servants in 
the Old Testament we should lay to heart the 
one great point of faith or devotion which is 
emphasized, rather than dwell on faults which 
belong to their time and circumstances. In the 
narrative of the simple life of older times we 
have brought before us a greater simplicity of 
character, like that in children, in which one 
dominant motive stands out. So there are set 
before us in the stories of the Old Testament 
object lessons of great motives which we are 
to consider and set ourselves to imitate, even 
though in other respects the moral environ- 
ment is far below that of the Christian. 

The different parts of Holy Scripture should 
be read and heard with the remembrance (so 
far as is possible) of the stage of revelation to 
which each belongs ; and with the recognition 
of the purpose and character of each: e.g., 
in the Old Testament there are books of His- 
tory, of Poetry, collections of wise sayings 
(like the Proverbs), and of Sermons, like the 
utterances of the Prophets. In the New Testa- 
ment there are the Biographies (in the Gos- 
pels), a fragment of Church History (in the 
Acts of the Apostles), Letters written by dif- 
ferent apostles to churches and to individuals 



54 Morning and Evening Prayer 



under their spiritual care, and the narrative of 
a Vision (in the Revelation of St. John). 

THE CANTICLES. 

I. Te Deum. 

The Te Deum has been called the canticle 
of Ambrose and Augustine/' from the legend 
that at the Baptism (in a.d. 386) of Augustine 
(afterward Bishop of Hippo) by Ambrose, 
Archbishop of Milan, the hymn was impro- 
vised and sung responsively by these two great 
teachers of the Church. The legend is ground- 
less, but it approximately fixes the date of the 
hymn, which really belongs to the end of the 
fourth century, while portions of it are prob- 
ably still more ancient. 

The hymn as we have it consists of three 
parts, two of them belonging to its original 
form (though these may each have had an 
independent earlier existence), the third an 
appendix. 

I (yv. 1-13). In association with all His 
servants, whether angels or saints, living and 
departed, we worship the Triune God: ''We 
praise thee, O God.'' 

2. (vv. 14-21). We worship the incarnate 
Son, by whom the purpose of God for man's 
redemption is accomplished: ''Thou art the 
King of Glory, O Christ." 



The Canticles 



55 



These two parts of the hymn are parallel to 
the songs of worship in St. John's vision (Rev. 
iv. and v.) ; the first addressed to the Lord 
God Almighty (iv. 8), the second more es- 
pecially to the Lamb, the glorified Redeemer 
(v. 12-14). 

3. (vv. 22-29). Versicles mostly from the 
Psalms: O Lord, save thy people.'' 

vv. 22, 23, Psalm xxviii. 9. 

vv. 24, 25, Psalm cxlv. 2. 

V. 27, Psalm cxxiii. 3. 

V. 28, Psalm xxxiii. 22. 
These versicles represent the petitions for 
the day's protection which naturally flow from 
the consideration of the great truths com- 
memorated in the earlier hymn. In this sense 
the verses were added to the early form of the 
Gloria in excelsis, when it was used as a morn- 
ing hymn. They may well be incorporated in 
the private morning devotions of those who 
cannot attend the daily worship of the Church. 

The last verse of the canticle proper (v. 21) 
should more correctly read, Make them to be 
rewarded with thy saints." Later Latin copies 
had by an easy mistake changed munerari into 
numerari. But, as has been said, the re- 
ceived version though not faithful to the orig- 
inal is happily comprehensive ; for, to be ' num- 
bered with the children of God,' and to have 
a ' lot among the saints,' is to receive the ' great 



56 Morning and Evening Prayer 

recompense of reward/ the heavenly heritage 
of those who are joint heirs with Christ of His 
triumphant kingdom."* 

In the enumeration of the different ranks of 
saints the goodly fellowship of the Prophets 
is not to be restricted to the prophets of the 
Old Testament, who prepared the way for our 
Lord. The goodly fellowship of the Prophets 
includes, along with these, all the great teach- 
ers whom God has raised up in the Christian 
Church, who with fuller gifts of the Holy 
Spirit carried on and perfected the work of the 
great teachers of the Old Testament. For the 
New Testament use of the word, see I Cor. xii. 
28, xiv. 29-32; Eph. ii. 20, iii. 5, iv. II. The 
Prophet's office under either covenant is not 
limited to foretelling future events; rather he 
forthtells God's mind and will, which has its 
present application as well as its future full 
realization. The Prophets are the men of 
vision, the Apostles are the men of action, the 
Martyrs are the sufferers, sealing with their 
blood the testimony of seers and rulers. 

The title, " the Comforter,'' applied to the 
Holy Spirit means much more than consoler. 
In old English comfort meant strength and 
help. The Greek word (Parakletos) used to 
record our Lord's promise of the Comforter 

♦ J. H. Blunt, Annotated Book of Common Prayer. 



The Canticles 



57 



(St. John xiv. i6, 26; xv. 26; xvi. 7) literally 
means one who is called to our side, whether 
to guide us in perplexity, to help us m any 
difficulty, or to plead our cause. (The Latin 
word Advocate has the same meanmg.) ihe 
Holy Spirit comes to be our indwellmg ' Help- 
er" (R. V. margin), enlightening the mmd, 
purifying the heart, quickening the conscience, 
strengthening the will, aiding us in our ap- 
proach to God as well as in our resistance to 
evil. See p. 8. 

In verse 17 the reference is without doubt to 
I Cor. XV. 55, 56. The sharpness of death 
might better be rendered the sting of death." 
" What Christ overcame upon the cross was 
not merely, as the careless reader of this verse 
might infer, the anguish of dissolution, it was 
the power of sin. He thus cuts away, like the 
prince in the legend, the dense thicket that has 
blocked approach to the royal palace, slays 
the dragon, and opens the kingdom of heaven 
to all believers." * Compare Heb. ii. 14, I5- 

This spiritual lesson we may learn from the 
structure of the whole canticle: Beginning 
with worship of God for what He is in Him- 
self and for what He has done on our behalf, 
and in that worship associating ourselves with 
all God's servants ('^ We praise thee"), we 
learn to trust ourselves individually to His 

*W. R. Huntington, in Lauda Sion, p. 186. 



58 Morning and Evening Prayer 



mercy : In thee, whom all worship, have I too 
trusted: let me never be ashamed, or disap- 
pointed of my hope. (Rom. x. ii.) So the 
Te Deum ends in what Bishop Jeremy Taylor 
calls the confidence of a certain faith, the 
comfort of a reasonable, religious, and holy 
hope." 

In contemplating daily work and trials we 
pass from the joyous realization of God's pres- 
ence with us (recognized in the Venite) to the 
adoration of the Triune God revealed to us 
by Christ as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with 
all the precious spiritual blessings which that 
revelation has brought to us. 

II. Benedicite, 

The Benedicite, or " Song of the Three 
Children," is a part of the Greek addition to 
the third chapter of Daniel contained in the 
Apocrypha. It is apparently based on Psalm 
cxlviii. Being sung in early Christian times 
among morning psalms, and in the monastic 
offices on Sunday morning, it was naturally 
chosen in the first English Prayer Book (1549) 
as an alternative for the Te Deum during the 
Lenten season^ for which the more triumphant 
canticle was thought unsuited. 

III. Benedictus. 

The Song of Zacharias, sung after the sec- 
ond lesson at Morning Prayer. ( See St. Luke 



The Canticles 



59 



i 8-25 and 57-80.) These are the words with 
which Zacharias, under the inspiration of the 
Spirit of God, broke the nine months silence, 
which was the punishment of his disbehef m 
the angers message promising the birth of his 
son. During this time Zacharias had oppor- 
tunity to meditate on all that had been told him 
concerning the mission of the promised child, 
who should be the messenger to go before the 
face of the Lord and prepare His way. ihe 
fulfilment of God's promises to His people by 
the birth of the Messiah, and the redemption 
that He would accomplish; delivering the 
faithful from their spiritual foes, and setting 
them free to serve Him in holiness and right- 
eousness: these are the thoughts of Zacha- 
rias's hymn, fitly repeated by us after the read- 
ing of the New Testament lesson, and an 
appropriate morning canticle (so it has long 
been used in the Christian Church), as it tells 
of the day-spring from on high shining upon 
those that before its rising upon them sat in 
spiritual darkness and the shadow of death. 

The grand character of the Baptist, specially 
sent before our Lord to prepare His way, is set 
before us morning by morning to elevate our 
plans for the day's labour, reminding us of our 
vocation, each in his own sphere, and bidding 
us be true and brave in removing obstacles to 
our Lord's more complete rule and sover- 
eignty. 



6o Morning and Evening Prayer 



IV. Magnificat, 

The Song of the Blessed Virgin Mary, sung 
after the first lesson at Evening Prayer. See 
St. Luke i. 46-55. 

The Magnificat is the Virgin Mother's hymn 
of thanksgiving for the great mystery of the 
Incarnation, of which she was the chosen and 
highly favoured instrument. When Elizabeth 
salutes her with honour, as the mother of her 
Lord, Mary turns all the glory to God, who 
has regarded the low estate of His hand- 
maiden. 

The Christian Church continually repeats 
Mary's hymn, in praise of the Incarnation, and 
of all the gifts of grace by which its virtue and 
benefits are continually applied. Christ, who 
was once born for us according to the flesh of 
blessed Mary by the power of the Spirit of God, 
is continually to be born in us by the operation 
of the same Spirit, reproducing in us His like- 
ness. (Compare the collect for Christmas- 
day.) 

Mary's hymn is fitly sung between the read- 
ing of the Old Testament and the New Testa- 
ment lessons, both as a thanksgiving for the 
fulfilment of all God's promises of a redeemer, 
beginning with that of the seed of the woman, 
who at the expense of his own heel being 
bruised in the encounter should bruise the ser- 
pent's head (Gen. iii. 15) ; and as based on 



The Canticles 



6i 



Hannah's thanksgiving for the birth of her son, 
which it enlarges and makes more spiritual. 
(I Sam. ii. i~io.) 

Its use at evensong may remind us of the 
fulness of time in which God's purpose was 
fulfilled, and of " the last days,'' ix,, the final 
dispensation in this world, in which we Chris- 
tians live. 

The hymn expresses, too, the meek and 
thankful spirit with which we should close a 
day's experience, praising God for the spiritual 
protection with which He has encompassed us 
against manifold temptations. 

V. Nunc dimittis. 

The Song of Simeon, sung after the second 
lesson at Evening Prayer. See St. Luke ii. 
29-32. 

The hymn is the utterance of Simeon, the 
aged servant of God, trained and schooled as 
a Jew in the earlier dispensation, waiting for 
the fulfilment of God's promises to His people, 
and knowing from prophecies that the time 
for the coming of the Messiah was fulfilled. 
He had received a promise from God that he 
should not die until he had seen the Messiah. 
Led by the Spirit, Simeon enters the temple at 
the time when Mary brought her Child, forty 
days after his birth, to present Him to the Lord 
in accordance with the precepts of the law. 
(Num. iii. 11-13 ; Levit. xii. 6-8.) Recogniz- 



62 Morning and Evening Prayer 



ing in the little Child the long expected Mes- 
siah, and taking Him in his arms^ Simeon ut- 
ters this hymn of thanksgiving : Now, O 
Lord, in peace Thou lettest Thy servant 
depart/' 

Its use from early times in the Christian 
Church as an evening canticle, and in our ser- 
vice after the reading of the New Testament 
scripture, is in accordance with its historical 
origin. We should lay hold of the great truths 
of the Christian revelation, and make our own 
its promises and gifts of grace. Like Simeon 
we too would embrace the Lord Christ with a 
lively faith, and with a faithful love ; we would 
be embraced by Him in His sacraments of 
grace. Then in the peace that comes from the 
knowledge and the love of God, a peace which 
the world can neither give nor take away, we 
can trust ourselves to God in life and in death, 
rejoicing in the salvation which He has made 
known, a light which sheds its radiance over 
all nations, while it is the peculiar glory of His 
covenant people, the true Israel. 

At the close of the day of work and service 
we fall back on the rest which comes from our 
hold on the great truths of the Christian rev- 
elation. 

The Psalms which are provided as allowable 
alternatives for the Gospel Canticles, Jubilate 
(Ps. c), Cantate (Ps. xcviii.), Bonum est (Ps. 



The Creed 



63 



xcii.), Dens misereatur (Ps. Ixvii.), and Bene- 
die, anima mea (Ps. ciii.), are better used as 
they occur in the ordinary course of the 
Psalter. 

THE CREED. 

In Morning and Evening Prayer, as at the 
Holy Communion, the Creed follows the in- 
struction given in the Scripture lessons, and 
precedes the prayers. In the strength of the 
revelation of God's being and work, made 
known to us in Scripture, and summed up in 
the Creed, we are emboldened to present our 
petitions. 

" Having then a great high priest, who hath 
passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of 
God, let us hold fast our confession. For we 
have not a high priest that cannot be touched 
with the feeling of our infirmities ; but one that 
hath been in all points tempted like as we are, 
yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near 
with boldness unto the throne of grace, that 
we may receive mercy, and may find grace to 
help us in time of need.'' (Heb. iv. 14-16.) 

What is called the Apostles' Creed repre- 
sents in its main structure and contents the 
baptismal creed of all local churches, whether 
East or West, in early Christian times. The 
particular form is that of the local church at 
Rome, the use of which from the commanding 



64 Morning and Evening Prayer 



position of the imperial city naturally became 
more widely known in Western Christendom 
than that of other more remote churches. We 
can trace it from the middle of the second 
century. The Creed was gradually expanded 
till it reached its present form in the seventh 
or eighth century, largely through the assimi- 
lation of articles of the baptismal confessions 
of other parts of Christendom. ^ 
We should understand the title, the Apostles 
Creed, as meaning not that the formula was 
composed by the apostles, but that it embodies 
their teaching as they went forth to make dis- 
ciples of all the nations, the Holy Spirit bring- 
ing to their remembrance all that our Lord had 
taught them. (St. Matt, xxviii. 18-20; St. 
John xiv. 26; see I Cor. xv. 3. 4; I Tim. m. 

^^The Nicene Creed is so called because (save 
some later additions) it was set forth at the 
council of Nicea (a.d. 325), to guard the truth 
of our Lord's Godhead, which was impugned 
by Arius. Its keynote is the declaration that 
the Son of God who became man is in His pre- 
existing being of one substance or nature with 
the Father. Later the third part of the CTced 
was developed, to guard the truth of the God- 
head of the Holy Spirit.^ 

*If not by the council of Constantinople, A.D. 
381, the words are found in the form of the Creed 
set forth by the council of Chalcedon, 45i. 



The Versicles and Responses 65 



The clause asserting the procession of the 
Spirit from the Son as well as from the Father 
(Filioque) has been a cause of difference be- 
tween Eastern and Western Christendom. 
While the words were inserted in the Creed 
without proper authority, they express a truth 
which we could not seem to deny by now omit- 
ting them; the assertion moreover can be ex- 
plained so as to remove misunderstanding on 
the part of Eastern Christians, whose objection 
is to anything that might appear like an ad- 
mission of two principles or sources of being 
in the Godhead. If the Spirit eternally de- 
rives His being from the Son as well as from 
the Father^ the Father is eternally the source 
of being to the Son. That the Spirit proceeds 
from the Father through the Son is the great 
truth which both East and West confess, 
though in somewhat different forms. 

For the use of the Creed as an act of adora- 
tion, summing up the whole service of praise, 
see p. 15. 

THE VERSICLES AND RESPONSES. 

The versicles and responses said in a fuller 
form at Evening Prayer, with only the first and 
last at Morning Prayer, are taken originally 
from the Psalms, while used almost in the same 



66 Morning and Evening Prayer 



form and in the same place in the Latin offices 
from which our Morning and Evening Prayer 
were translated and abbreviated. 

Couplet I, Psalm Ixxxv. 7. 

Couplet 2, Psalm xx. 9, R. V. margin. 

Couplet 3, Psalm cxxxii. 9, 16. 

Couplet 4, Psalm xxviii. 9. 

Couplet 5, Psalm cxxii. 7 and Psalm iv. 8. 

Couplet 6, Psalm li. 10, 11. 



THE COLLECTS. 

The collect for the day links the lesser daily 
offices with the central service of Holy Com- 
munion (see p. 10), thus reminding us that 
each day we are thankfully to call forth the 
power of the eucharistic gift in our daily life. 

The fixed collects at Morning and Evening 
Prayer are all four of them of ancient origin. 

The second collect, for Peace, at Morning 
Prayer is found in the sacramentary of Ge- 
lasius. (See p. 10.) The noble phrase, '\ in 
knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, 
whose service is perfect freedom ( quern 
nose ere est vivere, cui servire est regnare), is 
found in the meditations ascribed to St. Augus- 
tine, which are, however, in reality probably 
later than the collect. 



The Collects 



67 



The corresponding collect for Peace at Even- 
ing Prayer is likewise in the Gelasian sacra- 
mentary. 

The third collect, for Grace, at Morning 
Prayer is the collect in the older service-books 
for the early morning office (Prime). 

The third collect at Evening Prayer, for Aid 
against Perils, held the same place in the late 
evening service (Compline). 

" There is a close resemblance between these 
ancient daily collects of Morning and Evening 
Prayer. In the first of each pair the subject of 
petition is the same, but the words are differ- 
ent, and suited to the respective seasons. We 
ask outward peace in the morning, to secure 
us against the troubles of the world; and in- 
ward peace in the evening, to comfort and quiet 
our minds when we are to take our rest. In 
the second of each pair of collects, we ask in 
the morning grace and guidance to direct us 
in our duty ; and in the evening, light and aid, 
when we are passive or unconscious. The 
metaphor of light, according to Scriptural 
usage, will include the two ideas of knowledge 
and of comfort. We therefore pray that our 
understanding may be enlightened to perceive 
the sleepless providence of God, and our hearts 
cheered with the assurance of His love."* 
* Frere, p. 404. 



68 Morning and Evening Prayer 



The petitions of these collects are for the 
universal needs of all Christian people apart 
from particular circumstances ; for grace and 
peace and protection. Hence, we are bidden 
to offer these petitions not for ourselves alone, 
but for the whole Christian body, as its mem- 
bers go forth to their daily toil each morning 
and return at eventide. 

THE INTERCESSIONS. 

For the intercessions for civil rulers, for 
clergy and people, and, in the Prayer for all 
Conditions of Men, for the extension and unity 
of the Church, and for the sick and suffering, 
see the service for Holy Communion, p. 21. 

THE GENERAL THANKSGIVING. 

This prayer was added to the Prayer Book 
of the Church of England at its last revision 
in 1662. With our prayers and supplications 
we are bidden by St. Paul to join our thanks- 
givings. (Philip, iv. 6.) The apostle's own ' 
example would teach us that a thankful ac- 
knowledgment of mercies already received 
should be the strength of our petitions for the 
supply of present and future needs. It is his 
custom to begin his epistles with a thanksgiv- 
ing to God for what He has already done, and 



The Prayer of St, Chrysostom 69 



in the strength of this acknowledgment to pray 
Him to continue and perfect the good work 
which He has begun. (See I Cor. i. 4-9; Eph. 
i. 3-17; Phil. i. 3-6.) 



THE PRAYER OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. 

This prayer is not found among the writings 
of St. Chrysostom (a.d. 407), but it occurs in 
later copies (probably of the ninth century) of 
the liturgy of the church of Constantinople 
which bears his name, at the beginning of the 
Communion service. It had no place in West- 
ern service-books, but was introduced into the 
English Prayer Book, at the end of the Litany, 
by Archbishop Cranmer in 1544. 

The prayer, which is addressed to our Lord 
Jesus Christ, is based on His promise (St. 
Matt, xviii. 19, 20). The efficacy of united 
prayer consists not in the pressure brought to 
bear by a multitude of suppliants, but in the 
elimination of merely selfish desires as we as- 
sociate ourselves with others, and others with 
ourselves, in our petitions, seeking the common 
welfare. The " two or three " represent the 
body of the faithful united with one another 
under the headship of the common Lord. 



Morning and Evening Prayer 



THE GRACE. 

In the Apostle's benediction (II Cor. xiii. 
14) there should be noted, in accordance with 
the old saying, lex orandi, lex credendi (the 
rule of prayer is the rule of faith), the testi- 
mony to the belief of the first Christians in the 
Godhead of our Lord, and in the equality and 
the distinction of the persons in the Trinity. 
While brought up as Jews in strict monothe- 
ism^ this being the great truth which God im- 
pressed upon the world through His ancient 
people, the apostles nevertheless prayed to 
Christ for the same blessings which they sought 
from God, and paid to Him the same worship, 
showing that they recognized Him in His di- 
vine nature as of one being with the Father. 
(See I Cor. i. 3; II Cor. i. 2; Gal. i. 3; II St. 
John 3; Rev. i. 4-6.) 

At the same time in asking a special blessmg 
from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, 
it is clear that a real distinction of persons 
(which is the term we use for want of better 
words) within the Godhead was recognized. 
The incarnate Son is mentioned first, probably 
because by reason of His having taken our nat- 
ure He is naturally thought of as standing 
nearest to us; His grace (which includes both 
favour and help) introduces us to the love of 
God the Father (''No man cometh unto the 
Father but by me ") ; while the communion or 



The Grace 



71 



fellowship of the Holy Ghost tells us that God 
is not to be thought of as an absent being in 
a distant heaven, or as manifesting Himself 
only nineteen centuries ago, but as coming now 
to dwell within us by His Spirit, making us 
partakers of the divine nature (H St. Pet. i. 4), 
communicating to us God's truth and love and 
purity, amid the duties and business and pleas- 
ures of our daily life, to which we go forth 
from our worship in the sanctuary. 



Cl^e Lttani?^ ox (5mml 

A Litany is a solemn form of entreaty, in 
which responses are a prominent feature. 
Such litanies were often sung in procession, 
particularly on occasions of penitence and 
special supplication. Our Litany is with very 
slight alterations the oldest part of the existing 
Prayer Book in English, having been put forth 
in 1544, translated and enlarged by Archbishop 
Cranmer from the earlier Latin forms. Sev- 
eral of Cranmer's additions seem to have been 
taken from Luther's Litany, as is the suffrage 
added in the American Prayer Book of 1892, 

that it may please thee to send forth labour- 
ers into thy harvest.'' 

After the opening Invocation of the several 
persons of the Triune Godhead, separately and 
collectively, all the petitions are addressed to 
our Lord Jesus Christy still wearing our human 
nature glorified at God's right hand. 

" There is one God, and one mediator be- 
tween God and man, himself man, Christ 
Jesus." (I Tim. ii. 5.) 

Stephen looked up to heaven and said, I 
72 



The Litany, or General Supplication 73 



see the heavens opened, and the Son of man 
standing on the right hand of God." (Acts vii. 
56.) 

Christ in the days of his flesh, having of- 
fered up prayers and supplications with strong 
crying and tears unto him that was able to save 
him from death, and having been heard for his 
godly fear, though he was a Son, yet learned 
obedience by the things which he suffered ; and 
having been made perfect, he became unto all 
them that obey him the author of eternal sal- 
vation." 

Wherefore also he is able to save to the ut- 
termost them that draw near unto God through 
him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession 
for them." (Heb. v. 7-9, vii. 25.) 

The petitions fall into these three groups: 
I. Deprecations, in which we beg for deliv- 
erance from various kinds of evil, internal and 
external, from temptations arising from the 
craft and malice of the devil, the pressure of 
the world, the weakness of our own fallen and 
disordered nature. 

The petition Remember not " is a transla- 
tion of the anthem (founded on Tobit iii. 3 and 
Joel ii. 7) which was repeated with the seven 
Penitential Psalms,^ which stood in the old 
office books before the Litany. Both as indi- 

* Pss. vi., xxxii., xxxviii., li., cii., cxxx., cxliii. 



74 The Litany, or General Supplication 



viduals, and in collective form as a church or 
nation, we may well pray for mercy in respect 
of our own sins and those of our fathers. The 
temporal consequences of wrong-doing are not 
limited to the wrong-doer, or to his own time. 
Descendants may be poorer in all ways, ma- 
terial, physical, moral, intellectual, spiritual, 
owing to the folly or wickedness of those who 
have gone before them. We inherit disadvan- 
tages as well as advantages. 

2. Obsecrations^ in which we plead the dif- 
ferent mysteries of our Lord's incarnate life; 

(i) begging that what He has done and suf- 
fered for us may not be in vain ; 

(ii) imploring Him by the remembrance of 
His earthly experiences to help and deliver us 
in similar circumstances ; 

(iii) asking for the special virtue of each 
mystery, the hallowing of our nature by the 
Incarnation, our regeneration by His Nativity, 
the conquest of Satan by the Cross; 

(iv) and asking for grace to follow His ex- 
ample in each, as His humility in the Incarna- 
tion, His poverty of spirit in the Nativity, His 
courage in the Passion. 

3. Supplications, in which we pray for all 
sorts of blessings for ourselves and for all men 
in their various ranks and needs, rising up to 
the universal petition for all mankind. 



The Litany, or Ge^ieral Supplication 75 



We may well regret the omission of two suf- 
frages from the older Litany : 

That thou wouldest repay everlasting 
good to our benefactors ; 

That thou wouldest give eternal rest to all 
the faithful departed/' (See p. 22.) 

At the end of the Supplications there are 
passionate entreaties to our Lord as the Son 
of God, to hear us, and as the Lamb of God 
that taketh away the sins of the world, to have 
mercy upon us, and to grant us His peace. 
Then again we address ourselves to each per- 
son of the blessed Trinity. So at least we may 
understand the Lord have mercy upon us, 
Christ have mercy upon us, Lord have mercy 
upon us.'' 

The Our Father " is intended to gather up 
all our petitions in the words which Christ 
taught us. 

The prayer, O God, merciful Father," was 
the Collect in the Mass in the Sarum book 

for one in tribulation of heart." The Epistle 
was II Cor. i. 3-5, the Gospel St. John xvi. 
20-22. 

The suffrages following this prayer (''O 
Lord arise help us," etc., from the beginning 
and end of Psalm xliv.) are taken from a 
special intercession for use in time of war, but 
are fitting at any season to express the needs 



76 The Litany, or General Supplication 



of all Christians, called to a perpetual warfare 
in Christ's name against sin, the world, and 
the devil. 

For the General Thanksgiving, the Prayer 
of St. Chrysostom, and the Grace, see Morning 
and Evening Prayer, pp. 68, 69, 70. 



INDEX 



Absolution, 25-27 
Alms, 19, 20 
Ambrose, St. , 54 
Angels, 33, 34 
Apostles' Creed, 63, 64 
Augustine of Hippo, St. , 54 

Benedicite, 58 
Benedictus, 58 
Bingham, Joseph, 27 
Blessing, The, 45, 46 
Blood, significance of, 41 
Blunt, John Henry, 56 
Bright, William, 11, 36 
Brooks, PhiUips, 44 

Canticles, The, 54-62 
Chrysostom, St. , Prayer of, 69 
Collects, 10-12 
Comfortable Words, The, 

28-30 
Comforter, The, 56 
Commandments, The, 9 
Communion, 36 
Confession, 25, 27 
Consecration, Prayer of, 34 
Creeds, 15 

Cyril of Jerusalem, St., 31, 32 

Departed, Prayers for, 22 
Deprecations, 73 
Dowden, John, 5 
Doxology to Lord's Prayer, 7 

before Gospel, 14 

Gloria Patria, 48 

Elements, Significance of 
Bread and Wine, 20 



Epistle, 12 
Eucharist, 35 

Filioque, 65 

Frere, Walter Howard, 5, 11, 
28, 67 

Gelasian Sacramentary, lo 
Gloria in excelsis, 44, 55 
Gloria Patri, 48 
Gore, Charles, 7, 10, 18 
Gospel, 12 

Goulburn, Edward Meyrick, 
12 

Grace, The, 70 

Gregorian Sacramentary, 10 

Hermann, Archbishop, 28 
Huntington, William Reed, 
57 

Imprecations, 49 
Incarnation, The, 74 
Intercessions, 21 
Invocation in the Eucharist, 
34 

in the Litany, 72 

John Baptist, St., 59 
Justin Martyr, 12, 13 

Kyrie eleison, 9 

Lauda Sion, 29, 45, 57 
Leonine Sacramentary, 10 
Lessons, The, 51 
Liberty, guarded by Prayer 
Book, 51, 52 



77 

Lt<0. 



78 



Index 



Litany, 72 

Lord's Prayer, The, 7, 42, 48 

Magnificat, 60 
Mary, Blessed Virgin, 60 
Mason, Arthur James, 22 
Mysteries, pleaded, 74 

Nativity, The, 74 
New Testament, 52, 53 
Newman, John Henry, 39 
Nicene Creed, 15, 17, 64 
Nunc dimittis, 61 

Oblation at Offertory, 19 

Eucharistic, 35, 36 
Obsecrations, 74 
Offertory, 19 
Old Testament, 52, 53 

Paraclete, 56 
Passover, The, 36, 37 
Prefaces, 33 

Preparation of Communi- 
cants, 23-27 
Prophets, 56 
Psalter, 49-51 

Redemption, 37 
Repentance, 25 
Responses, to the Command- 
ments, 9 
see versicles, 65 
Revelation, 52 



Sacramentaries, 10 
Sacraments, 39, 40 
Sacrifice of Praise and 

Thanksgiving, 35 
Sanctus, 33 

Scripture, reading of, 12, 13, 
52 

the Creed a summary of, 
15 

Seabury, Samuel, 30 
Self-examination, 24 
Sentences, Opening, 47 
Sermon, 18 
Simeon, 61 
Supplications, 74 
Sursum Corda, 31 

Taylor, Jeremy, 58 
Te Deum, 54-58 
Thanksgiving, Eucharist, 35 

after Communion, 43 

the General, 68 
Trinity, The, 16, 18, 32, 70 

Veni Creator Spiritus, 8 
Venite, 51 
Versicles, 65 

Westcott, Brooke Foss, 20, 
41 

Wordsworth, John, 11, 20 
Zacharias, 58, 59 



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